Russian Progress Ship fails shortly after Launch

Photo: Tsenki TV

A Progress Cargo Resupply Ship launched on time at 9:00:11am EDT today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. After blasting off, the Soyuz-U rocket performed normally during early portions of the flight. 325 seconds into the mission, in the middle of thrid stage flight, a violation in the propuslion system occurred which led the flight computers aboard the vehicle to shut down. Officials indicate that the vehicle did not make its desired orbit. A loss of singal was observed later on. It is suspected that the vehicle already re-entered over Russia.

All 43 previous Progress mission to the ISS were able to fullfil critical mission objectives such as reaching orbit, docking and resupplying the Space Station.

The M-12M Progress was supposed to deliver 2.9 tons of supplies to the ISS. Those included oxygen, propellant, water and crew equipment. Also on board were more than 250kg of food and fresh food. The vehicle carried equipment for the Russian segment and the three Russian Crewmembers. 367kg of supplies for the US segment were also loaded into the spacecraft. Those included food, hygiene supplies and clothes.

Without this cargo, the ISS could be in trouble, however the exact impact of this failure is not yet clear. The timing of this accident couldn’t have been worse with this being the first flight to the ISS after the Space Shuttle Fleet retired. Other resupply options for the ISS include the European ATV and the Japanese HTV, but those vehicles will visit the ISS in 2012 at the earliest. The Dragon Capsule of SpaceX is another option for ISS resupply. The second mission of this spacecraft is planned for November 2011, but NASA has not yet decided if the C2 mission will be docking to the ISS or only perform a rendezvous for engineering purposes.

Also in the flight plan of the Progress M-12M were several reboosts of the ISS. Raising the orbital altitude of the Station periodically is necessary to increase its fuel efficiency since there are only an number of resupply vehicles that can perform re-boosts and ISS propellant is limited.

The situation will have to be evaluated over the coming days and weeks. Russian technicians will be examining data from today’s flight and try to find the cause of the fault. If today’s failure will impact future Soyuz or Progress flights is not clear at this time.

August 24, 2011; 10:35am EDT

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